Contributed by eatdogs. Posted by john on Friday, March 2, 2012 at 12:30 PM (EST)

At the recent NME Awards in London, guitarist Johnny Marr may have sown the seeds of revolution in the UK, stating that he would reform his seminal band The Smiths "if the government stepped down." He said:

"We won't be reforming this week. Maybe if the government stepped down. If this government stepped down, I'll reform the band. How's that? That's a fair trade, isn't it? I think the country would be better off, don't you? I'll do it if the coalition steps down."

Marr was at the award show to receive the NME's Best Reissue award for the Smiths' recent Complete box set.

You can watch a video of Johnny Marr being interviewed at the awards here.

We all live in a murderous world, as the events at the NME awards have shown, with Johnny Marr's statement. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried shit every day.

That wasn't sarcastic, I really....well, I know people still "like" Morrissey, but...I dunno. I'm out of touch with today's pop culture. I'd rather get XTC or Talk Talk back on a stage, you know what I mean? Wall of Voodoo.

Talk Talk broke up 20 years ago. However, this year they're releasing a book/tribute album package and EMI are reissuing their first four albums, but no new material of any sort or promise of a reunion.

It's funny, that was how I originally felt about The Smiths. When I discovered them in high school, I fell in love with them something fierce...I was like, "Morrissey sings to my soul!!". However, as I got older and matured out of my teen dramas, they just didn't hold the same relevancy to me they used to. Looking back at some of the lyrics, as good as they usually were, I can't imagine a grown adult would cherish them the same way an emotional teenager/early twentysomething would. That just narrows it down to the music which, while pleasant, I personally wouldn't hold above many other bands. I went from knowing all the songs and drawing portraits of the band members to completely forgetting when the last time I listened to them was.

You're so cute! I remember being in my early 20's too, not being able to "imagine" anything because of my "maturation".
I just wanna squeeze you.

(And I say that as somebody who has never even had a close friend who has been into The Smiths, however I'm not fucking delusional and realize that even a band like The Stone Roses has sold a few hundred thousand tickets in the UK alone).

I'm 28.... O_o
...wait, aren't I? How old is my character? Has that been established yet? Who the hell is writing this shit?

What I was trying to say, as politely as possible, is that The Smiths have the emotional resonance of a nu-metal band, only wrapped up in a much more effeminate package. They appeal to the disaffected teenager just long enough until they hopefully grow tired of Morrissey's trite and self-indulgent lyricism and find far better bands to listen and relate to.

Well. The rap guys are pretty okay. I love me some Wu-Tang and MF Doom. Those Smiths/New Order kids though...try and have a decent conversation about why Morrissey isn't the second-coming of Christ and it's like you have a deathwish.

I'm not talking down the actual music, but isn't the people who talk a lot about liking Wu/Biggie/Lil Wayne (he seems to be really, really, really, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY popular with the same crowd) the same kind of people who sends off text messages every minute to different girls, never go anywhere unless it's a facebook event invite and just try to validate themselves as much as possible at any given time?

Since the birth of portable devices used for social networking, hardcore has just been the biggest freaking dramafest in the world.

I love hardcore music too, but I've always known how terrible 99.9% of bands are. Me listening to hardcore bands is essentially a session of me pulling a duckface, grinning and going "this is fucking shit!" at the same time. Terrible music for terrible people and that's why it's so intriguing!

God I fucking hate when I'm talking about rap and someone brings up Lil' Wayne. I've got nothing against him, he's just not my style, but when I'm trying to talk about Keek da Sneak and his importance to hyphy and they drop Lil' Wayne in the conversation it's just like...man. Come on. I know he's huge but there's just so much more and better out there. I'm going to start making mixtapes for all these kids.

Anyways, I didn't think you were talking down on hardcore. But it's an age-old topic of conversation in just about any music scene, even before the advent of portable devices and social-networking. We find these little subcultures where we feel we can be comfortable, and within a month we find out it's just like high school. The people you described are everywhere. Some just have leather jackets and mohawks, and some have Champion hoodies and Nike Dunks. Everyone is posturing and trying to be recognized and as you stated "validate themselves". Everyone just tries too hard everywhere. At some point the kids who really mean it stick around, and everyone else hops onto the next thing. I think social-networking has just launched that posturing into fucking hyperspace because every minute detail of one's life can be expressed in 60 characters or less. It's disgusting to me, hence why I don't have facebook or twitter or whatever else there is. It's downright creepy to me.

And I can totally feel you on the 99.9% of hardcore bands are awful thing. But this is coming from a guy who loves Terror and Madball and Judge as well as more progressive hardcore. I know these bands aren't in any way playing "good" music. I've tried to explain my love for these bands to people before, and there just isn't words to descibe it I suppose. Something about them just resonates with me as much as Banner Pilot and Hot Water Music do.